MiLB.com recently published an article ranking the Mets organizational all-stars by position The article included analysis from the Mets Vice President of Player Development, Paul DePodesta. Here is what he had to say about the Mets top prospects.
Kevin Plawecki: “We were really pleased with the year he had,” said Paul DePodesta, the club’s vice president of player development, said. “Spent the first half of the year in Double-A and didn’t really miss a beat, then went up to Triple-A and continued to perform very well. For a guy that was drafted just in 2012, we’re extremely pleased with how quickly he’s made it through the system. He’s continued to make progress offensively and defensively. Offensively, we’re starting to see some of the power that we always believed was there. Defensively, he’s a strong receiver and his throwing is starting to get better. ”
Dilson Herrera: “I’d say he exceeded our expectations,” he said. “We were excited about him when we traded for him the year before — thought he had a good chance to go to Double-A at some point during the course of 2014, but I don’t think any of us imagined he’d be as productive as he was when he got to Double-A and then be able to make the jump all the way to the big leagues. It was a huge year for him and he had a great, great year. We have very high hopes for him.”
Matt Reynolds: “He went to our offseason training program and he also did some things with his swing to make it shorter and more compact last winter,” DePodesta said of Reynolds, who turned 24 on Wednesday. “It was a combination of all those factors. He certainly showed he can handle the pitching out there and had a tremendous year for us.”
Brandon Nimmo: “I think, given his age and plate discipline, we felt like he had a real foundation for success, and as he continued to move through our system and sort of gained strength, he was going to take off,” DePodesta said. “That’s exactly what happened this year. I think the most encouraging thing about this year was that, not only did he have a big year and continued that successm, he not only maintained his plate discipline, it actually got better. While his power went up, his strikeout rate went down.
Marcos Molina: “He’s a guy we obviously like an awful lot,” DePodesta said. “We felt like he was going to throw hard one day. He’s an incredibly good athlete and has a good feel for the baseball. He attacks with his fastball. Over the last two years, his fastball has continued to jump in velocity. This year he made big strides in understanding his own stuff and how to limit damage and went out and had a good year. I think he has a chance to be a top-of-the-rotation guy — mid-90s fastball, secondary stuff is solid now. Very excited about him.”
Steven Matz: “I think the two things for me that stand out are one — he’s very mature for his age in terms of his work ethic, his competitiveness. Talk about a guy who rises to the occasion — every big game this guy is just nails. What turned out to be the championship game at Double-A, he’s got a no-hitter going. When it’s on the line, he gets that much better. The second thing is he can really pitch with his fastball. Guys just don’t square it up. That foundation with attacking guys with the fastball — that’s going to serve him well in the big leagues and why I think he’s awfully close to the big leagues.”
Akeel Morris: “The stuff was there, plus fastball, plus-plus changeup — it’s devastating,” DePodesta said. “It’s hard to pick up, it’s a 15-mile per hour differential. In previous years he didn’t have a lot of experience — we just wanted to give him mound time. I think his hits against… they were like video game numbers.”
Hat tip to MMO reader Bo Beck for the link.
